KEN KIRSCHENBAUM, ESQ
ALARM - SECURITY INDUSTRY LEGAL EMAIL NEWSLETTER / THE ALARM EXCHANGE
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Comment on why the long delay on upgrading 3G customers
May 6,  2022
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Comment on why the long delay on upgrading 3G customers from article on April 29, 2022
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Ken
          In regards to the 3G panic:
1) We have been sending out letters, emails, and making phone calls since 2019. Customers just don’t care. Now that their systems are failing to communicate, THEY are panicking. But the problem is:
2) There is a MAJOR radio shortage. DSC had to change to a different processor became they couldn’t get the previous chips due to the “chip shortage.” Napco has had major issues pumping out Napco Starlink communicators. Almost every radio manufacturer has been fulfilling back orders since July 2021. 
          So customers refusing to allow the upgrades early, combined with every alarm company in the country trying to upgrade at the same time, creates the current chaos. 
Thank you,
Benjamin Simmons
Shreveport Security Systems
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Ken
          My experience with the 3g upgrade. We sent a letter to all our 3g customers shortly after the first announcement that it was being phased out. Several upgraded shortly after, some didn't respond, and a very few said they'd wait till it quits working. When the phase out became more eminent we sent a second letter to the remaining holdouts. We've now gotten all but a very few upgraded. The new radio is on the customer's dime, We're not eating the cost. Therefore so long as they've been properly notified I'll just wait until the last few go off line. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. 
Larry D
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Response
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          So here’s the results of my unbiased unscientific survey on the delay in upgrading customers from 3G:  It’s the customer’s fault.
          If communication fails and there is a loss [and no alarm signal communicates] I wonder if the subscriber will see it that way – that it’s the customer’s fault.  How about the subscriber’s insurance carrier who is looking to sue you under its subrogation rights?  Will it matter that you continued to charge monthly monitoring charges when you knew the monitoring was not possible because of no communication? 
          I don’t know if any non-upgraded 3G accounts have lost communication yet or whether any have suffered a loss that they blame on the alarm service.  It’s likely to happen eventually.  Will your E&O carrier see it your way – that it’s the customer’s fault, not yours? 
          If you are using the Standard Form Agreements [circa 2016 to date]:
  *  you can charge the customer for the obsolete 3G radio upgrade
  *  the customer is obliged to upgrade and keep the alarm system functional, or at least keep paying for the alarm services
  *  you can continue billing the subscriber for monitoring services that you know is not possible because of communication failure due to the old 3G radio
          There are at least two things you should have done – and should do immediately if you haven’t already:
  *  notify the subscriber that D-Day has arrived and communication no longer works
  *  update your contracts unless you have at least 2021 version.  We made enough changes in 2022 to warrant an update to 2022 version Kirschenbaum Contracts™  [if you decide to delay the contract upgrade, think about the customers who are delaying their 3G upgrades.  Yep, now you get it].
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Ken Kirschenbaum,Esq
Kirschenbaum & Kirschenbaum PC
Attorneys at Law
200 Garden City Plaza
Garden City, NY 11530
516 747 6700 x 301
ken@kirschenbaumesq.com
www.KirschenbaumEsq.com